June 2006: messy munching, cat chasing, standing and on the move?!

[alibobble]

thought I'd take the chance to start a new thread. thanks to DH for help with title! Hope everyone's had a good easter so far. see you all on here soon. x

Happy birthday June babies!!

DD was 1 yesterday! She has had a lovely birthday weekend. We had a big party in our local park with loads of friends and family as the weather was gorgeous. She's had so many toys and i felt quite emotional that everyone was there because of one tiny little lady. She's exhausted now from all the attention! I felt such a proud mummy. She also got her 3rd tooth in time for her birthday.

Must say I feel so much happier (and thinner) now than this time last year. A friend bought me a bunch of flowers rather than give DD a present as she reckoned that DD has just done what has come naturally to her for the past year - it's us parents that have had to change beyond all recongnition, so we deserved the flowers for surviving it!

Happy birthday June babies too!

ds is one tomorrow - picked up cake this morning, wrote his card just now and tryke has just been delivered from John Lewis.

We had a family do on Sunday and he had a ball, loved all the attention and happily played with his new water/sand table.

vbab78 - I got ds's t-shirt from 'Blooming Marvellous' - I think mn have a link that gets you a discount..

DH is taking tomorrow off so we're off to the zoo with family popping over in the afternoon.

blobsmummy - that's a great idea re: flowers for the Mummy's! - it has certainly been a fantastic but scary, tiring, emotional draining and overwhelming year !

Hello again,

DD is one next week and I am very excited! I'm struggling with the cup thing too...actually I'm not because I gave up. I tried to get her to drink out of a cup at 10 months like a good mummy following all the guidelines to get her off bottles by one. She drinks water happily out of a sippy cup, but wouldn't touch milk out of an avent magic cup or a sippy cup. She took one gulp sometimes or just spat it out. So I've been giving her a cup, but with a teat in it, rather than the valve thing.
I know I was supposed to stick to it and just keep offering the cup and not give in and give her the bottle/teat but I was worried that she wouldn't be getting enough milk. I think it's less of a worry once they're one, so I'm going to try again then and be firm.
I think, as I've said before, that maybe she doesn't really need the milk: she drinks it enthusiastically because she likes the teat and the sucking, so if she doesn't drink as much milk from a cup maybe it doesn't matter.
Phew, sorry for long post!

Ooh, me too I want flowers! I was just thinking about how many lovely flowers there were in the house just after dd was born...

Gorgeous DD is one today! I've felt really funny about it all day TBH - can't believe that she's reached this milestone already, and won't be my 'baby' for much longer!!!!!

She had two birthday parties prior to today -one on Sunday with grandparents and great grannie, and one on Monday with her 3 pals who also went to baby massage. Should have had another one today at Toddlers, but DS wasn't feeling very well, so we couldn't go. Don't think she's done too badly though! Managed to fit in another cake tonight and DS got to 'help' blow out another candle.

As to feeling thinner blobsmummy ... I have piled on the weight since I've been pregnant, and finding it very hard to shift this time. Hmmm probably shouldn't have hard that extra piece of cake after all...

Happy b'day ds...

5.50am wake/bottle/presents/cards/ nap/new t-shirt on/edinburgh zoo/sun came out on drive home/garden in afternoon playing on new tryke/grandparents round/candle lit/happy birthday sang/cake cut/dinner/more visitors/bath/new jammies/bottle/stories/bed.

...a day well spent

oh what's that I see - the terrible two's coming over the horizon - where is my toddler 'how to ' book?!

hello everyone. Soooo long since I've been here. Glad people are enjoying birthdays. dd 1 on 16th (i think there are a few of us) were off for a meal together seeing as dd will never remember it DH and me might as well make the most of it. Grandparents are buying dd a sandpit for birthdau... oooh so exciting! Can't believe this weather btw. Is fab. Am just in a lull with dd between teeth and she's delightful. You forget when they are all grizzle-grump that really they are happy lovely creatures!

HAve managed to get down to 1 bottle a day for the last few days. Evening milk in a beaker. Yaya! Someone was asking about introducing the beaker... I tried with water first not milk them spills = no problem. DD always better with beaker in her high chair. Still sit her in there for it now. Trya free flow simple one. It's better for teeth (discourages odd suck on juice all day aparently) dd can't manage the valved ones (or ai have to take the "magic" valves out!) It was only when she mastered water out of a beaker tha we tried milk. And it took AGES I remember so din't give up!

Right, saying a quick 'cheerio' as we're off on hols tomorrow - here we come Scotland! Think I'm as organised as I can be, just hope the weather for the west highland way is kind to us.

DD has got her 4th tooth and takes delight in driving me carzy by grinding her teeth - makes me shudder just writing about it.

Have a good week everyone....

Dd was one last Weds. A lovely day, although she was getting over the "three day fever/roseola" and still had a rash and was a bit clingy. Have any of your little ones had this?
In the evening, she perked up, and WALKED! On her first birthday! She's just lurching about a few steps at a time, but she's loving it, and so are we!
We bought her a xylophone and some "mega-blocks" (like big fat lego) and they both seem to be very successful, and lots of books. She loves books; she always picks them out of her toy basket and waves them at me to read to her!
In the midst of all this fun and games we've had a total childcare crisis: was given notice by original childminder, was due to start new one last week, but dd was ill, and this weekend, the new one called and pulled out! So it's a case of improvising with family and friends (not that easy, when parents are in Manchester, and we are in London!) until we can sort something out.

ds is one today! We had his b'day party on sunday so our friends/his friends could come and the weather was lovely thank God as it was like a free-for-all in the garden. His fave gift was a tricycle which is waaay too big but he's wheels-mad so he had lots of volunteers to push him all day long!
Still getting up at 5.30am, and tooth no.4 has just popped thru.
He's been walking all over the place for nearly two weeks.
But, big problem as he trys to get a leg over the stairgate (the top one!) and looks like he may actually manage to climb over as he manages to find himself footholds. Anyone has/has had this problem and any way to solve it? it's terrifying.

man that is scary! No idea as dd can't walk let alone climb over her stair gate.

DD got duplo for her birthday and LOVES it.. as does DH who plays with it as much as her!

Hi, not much gone on here since i went away!

Well, we did the west highland way in Scotland, although i now think I could write an accompanying book entitled 'swing parks of western scotland' as we seemed to find an awful lot! DD loved being with family for the few days, although travelling from Scotland to Kent with a toddler who doesn't like cars was interesting. She coped remarkably well considering that we were changing B&B's every few days. If anyone is holidaying up that was, I can def recommend some wonderful B&B's that are beautiful, great value and and child friendly.

Latest word spoken by DD - "tickle-tickle" We're happy to oblige!

DD not had roseola or attempting to mountaineer stairgate so no advice there I'm afraid.

ola, hope everyne is well.

We got back from Cyprus last night - had a lovely time but I missed the Scottish water! You should have seen my hair (if you've seen the Friends episode when Monica had to braid her hair to combat the frizzines then that was me over there (minus the braiding) - scary!)

On hindsight don't think Cyprus was best place for ds as it was WAY too hot. I thought he'd love being in the pool but he hated it and point blank refused to go in - think it was due to heat and not having a shallow end where he could feel his feet. We did go to the beach one day and he liked paddling but it was too hot to go to beach for any length of time.

He loved having his granny and papa there and they v. generously got up with him every 2nd day and let me and dh go out for dinner a couple of times too. ds was great on the plane and napped and slept well too.

Also think ds was a bit lonely , something we hadn't thought about in staying in a villa and felt 1 is an akward age for holidays as he is not quite walking on his own but v. curious so it was hard to keep him entertained .

We are going to western isles next month with family so hopefully he'll enjoy his cousins and the good scottish weather a bit better!

It was soo nice putting him to bed tonight back in his cot, he went out like a light.

Haven't been on for a while as not much going on. We moved DD in with DS after a bad few days of him getting up, coming into our room and waking everyone up at about 4am. Now when he gets up, he comes through and wakes us, but at least DD isn't being disturbed. Funny but he's being quite clingy in other ways as well, as if he's finally twigged that she's here to stay and he's going to have to share us for good!

Booked our holiday for July - up to Orkney again to see family. Hope this weather improves - feeling distinctly waterlogged at the moment....

Lethargic summer or what..

When can we get them down to one long nap a day? I forgot how it was 10yo DD. Thing is, he's having a total of 3-4 hrs minimum during the day from his 2 naps and finding it very hard to drop off at night. Still wakes up at 5.30-6.00am though which is just awful.

I let DD have a max of 2 hours sleep a day now as she started to not settle as quickly at night. She has it in one stretch from 12:30pm and I found that it was enough to get her through to 7pm, but she was exhausted enough to then sleep until 8am without stirring.

DD encountered play-dough for the first time last week which puzzled her greatly. She has also drawn her first masterpiece - aahhhh!

Hi. Sorry not been on so busy and when not busy exhausted. Me and DH seem to be going through a rougher than normal patch and I feel an all time low. It just feels like there's no magic anymore and I am just the house maid whom he tells he loves but never shows it or makes me feel special. Just like we are 2 people who just happen to live together just fetching up a child. Sorry for my rant.

I hope everyone is ok and not been badly affected by the floods. I live in Rotherham but have luckily escaped any problems where I live but a friend of mine hasn't been so lucky.

Glad to hear everyone has had nice birthday's. DS had his party on 17th June at home with a houseful of people. Was a lovely day. Ended up with a couple of kids fighting over DS football chair we got him! Then on DS's birthday (18th) we took him wearing his "I am 1" shirt to a local type of animal corner. He loved looking at them all and tried to put his hand in the chipmunk cage! He also enjoyed the toy tractors that I had him riding around on and the swings which he kept biting. We also had fantastic weather which made the day even more fantastic.

I was hoping that you ladies could give me some advice ... for the last few days DS will not go to bed like normal without screaming or being comforted. He has always followed a bedtime routine and never had him screaming and crying. Do you think his routine is changing and he wants to stop up a little later OR am I just missing something? Please help any advice is much appreciated.

Vbab, sorry to hear that things aren't going so well - I guess it's easy in the day-to-day slog of being parents to get into ruts and forget to take time for each other. Does DH know how you are feeling? Don't know your family circumstances, but is there any way you could offload DS for a night with a grandparent, and MAKE SURE you do something grown up together (i.e. a nice meal/bottle of wine/video/chat, before anyone lowers the tone)

If you can't/don't feel up to not having LO for a night, what about still planning the above, but after DS's in bed? Not quite the same as you won't get a long lie, but it's amazing what taking the effort to focus on each other will do, and sustain you when you both start to slip into old ways again. Take it from one who's been there!!!

My best pal is getting married in September and DH and I have arranged to stay overnight at the hotel with my parents coming to our house to look after the kids. It'll be the first night off since DD was born, and you have no idea how the anticipation is keeping me going....

As for his sleeping, not sure. Is he looking sleepy when he goes down? DD started getting a wee bit clingy and objected to me leaving the room. If they're still sleepy, best not get into bad habits that'll then be difficult to break. Be firm, pat, shush, comfort, but don't start picking up/walking the room etc, or you'll see even less of DH than you are just now!

Hope you get things sorted out on all counts.

Should have said, the anticipation of having an unbroken night's sleep and a long lie in the morning is what I am really looking forward to.

Finona - Thanks for the advice. Me and DH have had nights on our own but we either are so knackered we aren't great company or 1 stupid arguement ruins it. i just wish my DH would try and make me feel special, surprise me or even romance me but it never happens so I continue feeling like I am just here to do chores and for him to talk at.

I keep telling DH it's nice when he tells me he loves me but prove it would mean a lot more if he backed it up most days just through little things. But nothing changes or if it does it lasts a day.

Vbab - sorry to hear that you're feeling so low - [sending hugs emoticon]. It's really hard to keep a good relationship going as well as being a mum and the myriad of jobs that entails. Don't know if this will help, but when DH and I have gone through rough patches and i feel that he's been neglecting me in favoour of work, I try and muster up some super-human strength and do to DH what I'd like him to do to me ie. if I want him to surprise me with something, I'll surprise him with a nice meal (or whatever). I found that he's then a bit more receptible to me telling him that I'd like more attention (subtle hints do NOT work with my DH!). Hope I haven't confused you. Good luck and hang on in there.

DD also went very clingy for a couple of weeks last month and wouldn't settle well. Would echo Finona - extra big hug and cuddle before bed, tell DS you love him, then stick to your guns. DD got out of it after a couple of weeks.

Hello everyone, its been ages since I last posted. Vbab78 - so sorry to hear you're feeling so low at the moment. My (not so) DP is making me feel the same way. Feel just like the hired help. Get no assistance with anything that needs doing around the home, or with DD. During his days off he lounges in bed until midday, while I've been up since at least 6am. Worst thing is I'm 7 months pregnant with DD#2 and am totally knackered.

During one particularly heated argument this past Sunday, I packed a bag and walked out with DD and spent the night at my mums for some support and rest. Think (hope) he's gotten the message. Am having trouble coping and am thoroughly pee'd off with his behaviour, not to mention anxious about raising 2 very young children. Feeling very down and tearful. Mum's on strike anyone??

trinity1 - So sorry that you are having problems. I completely understand how you feel and it is terrible that you are feeling this way at 7 months pregnant. Maybe mums should strike once and a while!

Why don't you just do what you need to take care of DD and yourself and that's it. Stuff everything else it's you and your little one's you need to take care of. ARGH! Wish I could follow my own advice.

life is hard sometimes...

trinity1 - have you asked your dh outright if he feels his behaviour is fair? sometimes men lack the savvy to know when they are down right out of order. not getting out of bed until lunchtime tho'

I know every relationship has its good and bad bits... DH and me agreed before ds was born that dh wold have 2 nights a week for his stuff (footie/golf) and I would have two nights a week for gym. We also do turns about at weekend on who gets up early.

Our rough patches have been when we stop communicating due to tiredness. At the moment our sex life is hanging on by a thread...

On a ds note, I'm now shortening his mooning nap even further and his early morning wake ups have gotten ALOT better - 7am yesterday - I was awake before him didn't dare look at the clock in case it was 4.30am

Hey all hope everyone is ok.
DS is into everything these days and can even climb the whole flight of stairs
He had a lovely party last weekend and got spoiled with lots of new toys to annoy mummy with and to mess up the house lol.

RE DPS/DHS not pulling their weight- My DP can be just as bad but after many rows and chats I have realised that he just doesnt realise he is doing it! men are just programmed differently so you have to sit them down and tell them [hmmm]
The other thing is that they too may feel unloved because so much of your attention is on the LO, afterall they too are working hard to provide for the family maybe you should do something nice for them (meal,night out etc) I dont mean to sound harsh but a relationship is a two way thing and you both need to make the effort.
DP and I arent perfect by any means but I have found that if I make an effort then so does he